


Hero

by Evilsnowswan



Series: Sacred Heart [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 17:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12017268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilsnowswan/pseuds/Evilsnowswan
Summary: It's Halloween and Belle's shift as Volunteer at Sacred Heart Hospital. An unexpected visitor joins the festivities.(11. ”I can’t believe you shot me!” - Prompted by we-aim-to-misbehave on tumblr, fromthis list)





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I cheated and made this prompt into another piece for an older verse. It's what came to me first.

“I can’t believe you shot me!” She laughed, a hand on her hip, and squatted down to look at the freckle-faced boy who grinned from ear to ear. “Who shoots a fairy?”

The boy pushed his mask up on his ginger hair. “I didn’t shoot _for real,_ ” he said as though it was obvious. “Fairies are invincible _anyway_.” He rubbed his nose. “I wouldn’t shoot you for real, Miss Belle! Heroes don’t shoot people.”

“I’m glad to hear that, August!” She ruffled his hair. “So, do I get to be a superhero too?”

Gold saw the boy hesitate, his brows furrowing together as he pondered her question with a seriousness that looked wrong on a child’s face. He couldn’t have been more than six or maybe seven years old, but his expression was that of an old man; an old man who had seen things; an old man who had lived.

Miss French, however, didn’t flinch away from it, and Gold knew why. She had been a volunteer at Sacred Heart for years and was used to it; used to the way the hospital changed people. This little lad - August, with his fiery hair and solemn face was no exception.

“I don’t know. I suppose…” August said slowly, not looking convinced.

Belle’s patient smile didn’t waver. It was the same smile he’d seen on nurses, but her’s wasn’t yet frozen in place. It was alive still, warm and breathing, and stretching comfortably to touch her eyes.

“If I’m invincible,” she said. “I make a good sidekick?” She bobbed on her toes excitedly, flapped her wings. He’d never seen anything more ridiculously beautiful. “I know I’m big and sparkly,” she pouted, “but what if you need a diversion?”

August cocked his head. “A- what?”

“A _diversion_. Make everyone look at me, so they don’t see you coming to catch them?”

“Yeah!” The boy clapped his hands and leaned forward, pulling his mask back over his eyes. “Okay. Let’s go! You fly behind me!”

“How exciting!” Belle leapt to her feet and twirled on the spot, glitter particles fluttering from her wings and skirt.

“Hurry! We need to help the others!”

She nodded, and stepped behind the wheelchair. “Ready, Dark Knight?”

“I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman!”

Gold tore his gaze away and turned to leave, quickening his pace as he strode down the long corridor.

He had wanted to go as he had come- unseen, invisible - slip in and out of the front door without anyone noticing, but that plan went out the window the moment Miss French and her young charge came hurtling out of the room and started down in the same direction.

Leaving a bright hospital room, the corridor ahead would appear pitch-dark, lit only by the rows of jack-o-lanterns at their feet - aglow and flickering in the biting air, sending out their artificial orange light through their mouths and eyes. Even if he ducked under the fake cobwebs, however, or went and pressed himself flat against the wall just beneath a string of fairy lights and fake rubber bats and spiders to let them pass, he’d still stick out like a sore thumb.

Being spotted was inevitable reality, and being run down by a boy in a wheelchair wearing a Batman costume became a far greater concern and a more pressing problem than he had anticipated.

Gold turned around, watched the pair approach fast, and contemplated making an ungraceful run for it. The double doors at the other end, leading to the stairwell and connecting the Pediatric Wing to the family rooms, weren’t that far.

Wrapped in orange lights that looked like miniature pumpkins, and sporting a hand-painted sign that read: “Go back while there's still time!” in bold red lettering, they beckoned, dared him to come closer, but suddenly the idea seemed much less appealing than it had half a second ago.

He winced.

Just then the automatic doors swung open.

From the doorway a tall witch in black and emerald robes stood shrieking and casting nonsense spells in all directions as she waved her wand up and down. Not only were her robes green, but her face was painted that way too, the white of her teeth and her rich red hair standing out banshee-like against the backdrop of her bilious makeup.

Stepping on what looked like severed body parts, a hand and a foot, or maybe an arm, Gold all but jumped out of the way.

The air filled with shrieks and the sounds of chains and shrill laughter, and then, from the open doors came another stooped figure that dragged one leg. It was a smaller witch, he saw, the taller one in miniature. She dragged something behind her - a corpse, a skeleton, a gunny sack filled to the brim with everything and anything noisy and spooky, or perhaps it was just candy.

From where he stood, Gold could see most doors to the family rooms in the opposite corridor were open, and from inside them came horror movie music.

"Come if you dare!" the little witch said in a booming voice that suggested she ate smoked children for every meal - breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper - and about twenty a day. A growing witch needed her protein.

The tall witch cackled loudly, and all around him, kids and caregivers, nurses and doctors poked their heads out into the eerie gloom to see better. The witch didn’t speak or turn her head. Instead, she tapped the large bowl in her arms with long fingernails. It was a heaped bowl of the finest candy.

Gold smiled.

“Do any of you dare enter?”

As a stampede of children came running his way, his smile vanished as fast as it had appeared. Over and around hospital gowns, metal braces and limbs in plaster, and with cut-out holes for various hoses and tubes attached to beeping machines on wheels, the little tykes were in full costume - and had already eaten way too much sweet pumpkin pie.

Charged up with sugar and anticipation, the commotion washed over him like a roaring wave, leaving him drenched.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the very company he had so fruitlessly attempted to dodge.

“Friend or foe?”

The grappling hook gun poked his belly before a small fairy came to the rescue.

“Friend,” she said, putting a gentle hand on the toy. “This is Mr Gold, August. I know him.”

Gold gulped as he watched her hand swat the toy away, her fingertips almost brushing his damp velvet shirt.

“One of us?” August withdrew his weapon, but watched him closely as he exhaled.

“One of us,” Belle affirmed.

“You don’t look like a superhero.” The boy was eyeing his cane and lack of Halloween spirit, manifesting itself in one of his everyday suits and black leather shoes.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Miss French beat him to it. “Maybe that’s part of the plan?”

“A… a diversion!” August squealed, satisfied with himself.

“ _Disguise_ ,” Belle corrected. “Mr Gold,” she lowered her voice conspiratorially, so only the three of them would hear. “Are you, by any chance, an undercover agent sent to come to our aid? Secret Service? FBI, MI6? Blink twice if you can’t say, but your answer is ‘ _yes_ ’.”

A sharp intake of breath and a pair of big eyes riveted on his face for his reaction made Gold’s smile wide enough to reveal his gold tooth. Contrary to what people in town said about him behind his back, he was no stranger to the realm of wishful thinking and make-believe. Once upon a time he had been a well-known visitor, a frequent flyer. Maybe a little bit of fresh fairy dust was all he needed; strong enough to revive the memories. His eyes darted to Miss Belle’s and back to the superhero-in-training who was on the edge of his seat and straining not to blink or breathe - in case he missed anything important.

He blinked twice.

“Whoa…” August dropped his weapon into his lap and clapped his hands over his mouth. The young hero turned to his giddy fairy companion, unchecked delight on the part of his face that remained visible. “Miss Belle!” He exclaimed, offering a small hand, and the two of them linked pinky fingers. “We can’t tell anyone! Not ever! You have to swear.”

Belle mimed zipping her lips and locking them with an invisible key. She shook her head, and her ponytail and wings bobbed merrily.

“Your secret is safe with us, Agent Gold.” Gold took the small hand that was offered to him, and they shook like brave men. “Will you help us defeat the Wicked Witch?”

Belle leaned closer and whispered in his ear, her hand on his shoulder sending warm shivers down his spine. “It’s a game,” she said. “But you don’t have to-”

“Gladly, young friend.” Gold nodded, exchanging another quick look with his favorite fairy, who withdrew her hand and brought it to her lips as the sun rose on her face. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks tinted lovely shades of pink. He crouched down as low as his bad ankle would allow, both hands gripping his cane for support.

“I hear candy is involved? How do we proceed?”

August beamed at him, and the happy face of a different young knight pushed to the forefront of his mind. Gold felt his heart contract on the next beat. He blinked the sting away.


End file.
